Thursday, 24 October 2013

Sitting
at my kitchen table, during half term, I have been reflecting on the past 18
months since we opened and in particular about all the various ‘news’ items
about Free Schools over the last few weeks. I do get particularly cross with
the way that education in general, but the Free School agenda in particular,
has become such a massive political football.

When
I talk to parents (& as a parent myself), what every parent wants is the
very best possible for their child.And
that can usually be summed up in a couple of simple objectives; they want their
child to be happy and educated so that they can be the best they can be.

For
me, that is what the Free School agenda is all about. At its heart, it was
designed to allow people to set up a new school to fit the needs of a local
community. Now, whether that is a highly academic school with Latin on the
curriculum, or a Primary School or a school with a faith focus, surely they are
addressing a need? There needs to be checks and balances, and accountability, but that holds for all schools.

The
thing is, every free school is different and using one to beat all is just
ridiculous. I have a student at my school who was shut in a room during break
an lunchtimes at another secondary school before coming to us. Why were they
punished and excluded from their friends in this way? Because they were being
bullied by a group of other students and this was the school’s way to stop this
young person from being bullied. Yes, you read that right – punished for being
a victim.Why isn’t that used to berate
non-free schools?

Sandymoor
was set up by a small group of local parents, who wanted to increase choice and
provide a local school for families who were making a choice by moving out of
area to find a school they wanted to send their children to. I do not make any
exaggerated claims about what we are; we aim to be a local school, for the
local community, providing the best possible experience we can for the students
in our care, helping them to be the best they can be.

And
in that way, like so many others, we are just the same as every other school in
the country. We deal with children from every background represented locally,
just like the other secondary schools in the area. I want nothing but the very
best for the children at my school and I know that I can do that better when I
work collaboratively with the local schools and authority. Detractors of Free
Schools talk about how they take money away from other local schools; we are
funded on the same basis as every academy, with a per pupil funding formula.
The only way I am taking money from other local schools is when a child comes
to my school rather than another. Again, that is identical to every local
school. Except with one exception – in our situation, we have a significant
number of students who would have been educated out of authority, so it could
be argued that we are actually bringing central government money into the
authority. And, with a new school building going up fast, we are also helping
to raise the standards of educational establishments in the area. If you trawl
through the news archives, you will find allegations that we will drain in
excess of £3 million from the council. It is this sort of ridiculous allegation
that just makes me furious.

We’ve
also been accused of feeding our students fast food from a well-known chain. Again,
utter rot! And I know that my Catering Manager is furious about these
allegations too. Headlines nationally about how Free Schools need to have
greater controls imposed on them about healthy food don’t help. We want our
students to be the very best they can be, in a friendly, safe environment. Our
food is sources as locally as possible, with our meat, for example, coming from
a local butcher’s firm. It is cooked fresh on site, prepared fresh daily and
served to the students by our catering manager & assistant. The food is
served on china plates (not the ‘prison slop trays’ you see in a number of
‘ordinary’ schools we should, apparently, be more like) and the students are
expected to sit and eat their food together, as a social activity. We have
cashless catering in place, so our FSM children are not highlighted in any way.

And
over 80% of our students have our hot meals. That’s the ‘aspirational’ target
Jamie Oliver wants the government to aim for in all schools. If you want to see
happy, healthy young people, have a look in our dining hall during lunchtime!

Yes,
there are some free schools that have appointed unqualified people into posts,
particularly the high profile ones around currently, about head teachers
appointed with no qualifications &/or no experience in schools. The last 18
months have been some of the hardest months in my career and I have over 23
years experience in a wide variety of schools around the country, including
inner London comprehensives. I have two degrees (my original Physics degree
from Imperial College and a Masters in Education) and my head teacher’s
qualification, the NPQH. Have they helped me in my role? Most definitely yes,
but not necessarily in the obvious ways. Resilience, perseverance and dogged
determination have been much more important. I have had to know what I’m doing,
but anyone who is a head teacher will appreciate that, every day, things come
across your path that you have no direct experience of. You just have to rely
on experience and the collaboration of colleagues to make the right calls. I
actually feel sorry for those people who were given the responsibility for
leading a school, any school, without that background of experience and
support. I can only imagine how often they did not sleep with worrying about an
issue and how many times they must have cried through frustration or doubt
because they did not know what to do.

As
for the other staff? Well, my Catering Manager has all the qualifications
needed to run our kitchen and my Business & Finance Manager is a qualified
accountant. Why wouldn’t I appoint someone who had the right qualifications, if
they were the best person for the job? Again, politics gets in the way here –
people think they are being helpful by saying that independent schools have unqualified
teachers delivering lessons, so what’s the problem … but people see the word
‘independent’ and forget to then see the principle being laid out, which is
about the best person for the job. But getting the best person for the job is
about recruiting the best people. And that means having a school where teachers
want to work at. The last time we recruited for three teaching posts we
received over 120 quality applications, from experienced & fully qualified
teachers. Why wouldn’t I appoint a qualified teacher in that instance? But just
because a teacher is qualified and experienced does not mean that everything
will be fine! A quick Google and you will find references to a teacher I had to
fire for gross misconduct – this was a highly experienced and qualified
teacher, who came with excellent references and was the best person interviewed
for the post.

To
answer a particularly ridiculous, politically motivated tweet, no, Free Schools
don’t have magical recruitment powers. We are just like any other school,
trying to pick the best people to deliver the vision we have for our young
people.

And
the latest thing is that Free Schools need to be told to deliver the national
curriculum. . . When I spoke to my brother about this, his reaction was: “But
surely you’re delivering it and some?”. (Paraphrased there). Again I say, why
wouldn’t I teach the national curriculum? Our students are going to take
national exams, whether GCSEs, A-levels, BTECs or whatever they all get
re-branded into. Why? Because Sandymoor School leavers will be competing for
jobs against school leavers from other schools. Their CVs need to be easily
compared to other applicants – when a boss, who went to school decades ago,
looks through a pile of application forms, anyone who has qualifications that
they don’t understand is much more likely to be added to the pile of rejections
on the floor.

For
me, the freedoms I have as a leader of a Free School is the ability to deliver
the curriculum in a different way, trying to tackle the things that everyone
agrees is wrong with our education system. Like, for example, the fact that
business leaders say every year that school leavers cannot transfer skills to
new situations, or that they lack basic literacy & numeracy skills. Or
that, year on year, tens of thousands of 16-year olds are forced to sit exams
they know they will fail (& that all the people they trust know they will
fail) and just because they happen to be 16.

Sandymoor
students will take the exams that will
enable them to compete on an even playing field with others, but they will also
leave with the skills to help them stand out and be a positive influence
wherever they find themselves.

And
in that respect, our students are luckier than the school – all I want is a
level playing field, where I can get on with the mind-blowingly difficult, but
inspirational and hugely rewarding task of leading my school and helping the
staff & students be the very best they can be, day in and day out.

Having
been through the whole process (I was appointed after the school went into
pre-opening phase), I can say that the checks and balances are there, too. I
have sat in a panel interview, proving to experts from the DfE that our
curriculum was rigorous and would provide the best outcomes for students before
we even opened. I have sat with an Ofsted inspector who grilled me on our
policies, procedures and curriculum to ensure that we would meet all statutory
regulations. Within a few months of opening, we had a ‘monitoring visit’ from
the DfE to ensure we were delivering what we promised & have another one
next month. And we will be visited by Ofsted for our first full inspection
before the end of this school year. We have been checked and monitored and
inspected very thoroughly! I welcome this level of monitoring too; we do need
to be able to prove ourselves to external experts. But so do all schools. There
are bad schools out there. Some will be Free Schools. That is why there is a
system of inspections to monitor the quality of education in the country.

Friday, 4 October 2013

One of the things I found myself talking about during the open evening and open day was that here at Sandymoor we base a lot of what we do on the concept of respect. And that got me thinking: what do *I* mean by that word? How does it shape what we do?

Respect is a positive feeling of esteem for someone, or some actions or ideas held by someone. As in:

I really respect Barack Obama.

I really respect the way the Red Cross work in areas of conflict around the world to help those in need.

In school, we base everything we do on the starting point that we all, as individuals, respect each other. I know that every member of staff has joined Sandymoor because they want to be part of an organisation built on the founders' original ethos and that they want to do the very best they can to support and help you be the best you can be. I know that there is not a single one of you who would want to hurt another and that you want to be the best you can be.

I respect the staff because of this and I respect you all because of this.

I also expect you to respect the teachers and other staff who work in school.

Respect is not just some idea either. It is shown by actions. So, I respect the staff, for example, by doing everything I can to provide the workplace that allows them to do their job to the best of their ability. And I respect you by making sure that I listen to you and hear your opinions and views.

I do have an advantage here, however. Respect for authority is, according to academics, something common to most societies - as your Headteacher, I am given respect by people who don't know me. But I know that this respect will quickly drop away if I am disrespectful.

What about you? Another quality of respect is that it is earnt. If you want to be respected, you need to respect others first. Do you do that? Or do you expect to get respect first? You can expect respect, but if you have not been respectful to others, it is unlikely that you will get it.

Within Sandymoor, we have a number of students who hold positions of authority and as such should hold your respect. Our prefects carry out important tasks within school and do so with my authority. To be disrespectful to them is to be disrespectful to me. And if you are, then you will suffer the consequences.

However, the prefects are, conversely, also representing me when they are performing their duties and if they are disrespectful to other students, then that reflects on me and I will not tolerate that either.

We are a community. A family. And we share a set of common values. Respect for the individual, respect for the values of kindness and mutual support and respect for the desire to be the best you can be. When any member of the community breaks these values, they are being disrespectful to all of us and we need to hold them to account. But in a respectful, supportive way, in deference to their right, as an individual to be treated kindly. We can all fall short of these ideals, but if we are a supportive community, we have people around us who work with us and help us get back to being the best we can be.

So, how will you ensure that Sandymoor is known as a respectful place? How will you support the prefects in them carrying out their duties? How will you someone who is known to be worthy of respect?

Thursday, 19 September 2013

What is important to you?A simple question, but a whole host of complex answers lie under it!

Health, wealth & happiness? Or 'just' loads of money? What about a good job, nice family, time to enjoy things?

Or getting down to more mundane things, what about your mobile phone? or your xbox?

I hope you would all say that someone close to you is important to you? Your mum or dad, maybe? Or a brother / sister? (Even though you may fight like mad!). Or maybe you've got a pet that is important to you?

Or power? Do you want to have a high powered job, where people respect you for what you do? Or maybe you don't want the power and what you want is to do something to 'make a difference'. Maybe work in a charity, helping other people who have nothing?

What about knowledge? Do you want to know as much as you can about something? Become a world expert in something?

But will any of it make you happy?

Think carefully about what makes you happy and what is important to you. The answers to both of these fall into two distinct categories:

There are the things that you maybe haven't got & long for. Maybe it's the latest xbox, or the next iPhone? Or maybe it's something else you are longing for? 'Acceptance', or to be liked? Or to have the 'perfect' girlfriend / boyfriend? There is a huge danger here. Seriously, it's really, really seriously dangerous. If this is the trap that you have fallen into, then you are at serious risk of never really being happy.

You are using the lack of something in your life to explain why you do not feel contented and happy now. But what will you feel when you do obtain your goal? Will you be any different? Will you really be happy, or will you just substitute your 'missing link' to happiness with the next thing you want? It is easy to fall into this trap; I'll be happy when I get a girlfriend/boyfriend. I'll be happy when I get that job. I'll be happy when . . .

But this means that you see life like a journey, with a final destination. At the final destination, you will be happy, because you will have reached your idea of perfection. This means that you are not interested in the journey, but on the end result. This has been written about in so many different ways and, in fact, is a thread through a lot of major hollywood movies! I want to read out to you one piece of writing that explains the danger of being 'destination' focussed. It's called:

THE STATION

By Robert J. Hastings

TUCKED AWAY in our subconscious minds is an idyllic vision in which we see ourselves

on a long journey that spans an entire continent. We're traveling by train and, from the

windows, we drink in the passing scenes of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at

crossings, of cattle grazing in distant pastures, of smoke pouring from power plants, of row

upon row upon row of cotton and corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of city skylines and

village halls.

But uppermost in our conscious minds is our final destination--for at a certain hour and on a

given day, our train will finally pull into the station with bells ringing, flags waving, and bands

playing. And once that day comes, so many wonderful dreams will come true. So restlessly, we

pace the aisles and count the miles, peering ahead, waiting, waiting, waiting for the station.

"Yes, when we reach the station, that will be it!" we promise ourselves. "When we're

Eat more ice cream. Ride more merry-go-rounds. Watch more sunsets. Life must be lived as we

go along. The station will come soon enough.

So, rather than focussing on the destination, look to the journey! Enjoy the scenery, to follow through the metaphor from that piece of prose. What makes you happy now? What makes you alive now. Right here, right now?

Learn to live in the now, enjoy the moment and seek happiness in what you are doing, here and now.

If you do, then you are being aesthetic. Aesthetic means to be fully alive, with all your senses working at their best, when you are fully present in the moment and resonating with what you are doing at that moment of time.

The opposite of this is to be anaesthetic. when you are deadening yourself to what is around you. When you go to the dentist or into hospital, they give you an anaesthetic, to deaden you, so that you don't feel what they are doing to you!

Well, you can also give yourself anaesthetic, when you switch off from the now and when you deaden yourself to the experiences happening around you.

Some people think it's not cool to be eager and keen to do things, but those people have anaesthetised themselves, have deadened themselves, to protect themselves from something.

Go on, risk it - get excited about what you are doing. Live in the moment, seek happiness in the right things and don't put all your hopes in some golden future!

Sunday, 15 September 2013

For
those who were unable to attend the Parental Information Evening, I promised to
prepare a brief summary of everything we covered, so here goes!

It
seems almost unnecessary to do so, but I do believe that it is important to
always come back to the founding vision for Sandymoor School, because it is one
of the things that makes us different. Everyone is reminded of this vision and
everything we do is measured against it, giving us all a strong sense of focus
for what we are creating here. So:

“Sandymoor School
aims to be an 11-18 school, creating intelligent, employable global citizens
that demonstrate social competence, a desire for learning and respect for each
other and the world around us.”

And
this leads us into thinking about the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of what we are doing,
every day, in school. For about the past 15 years, a local lad, Sir Ken
Robinson, has been involved in the global educational scene, pushing for
schools to change their approach to education, and his thinking is very much in
line with Sandymoor’s vision. The link below is a short (10 minute) animated
version of one of his key talks:

At
Sandymoor, we are also focussed on the ‘soft skills’; not to the exclusion of
knowledge and the importance of developing a rigorous, broad base of
understanding across a wide range of subjects, but as well as. The CBI has
published reports showing that school leavers do not have these soft skills
they require in the modern workplace and it is Sandymoor’s goal to ensure that
our students do leave with them. To that aim, we work with a model first
developed by Professor Guy Claxton:

The
attitude and mind-set that Sir Ken Robinson advocates, along with the
structured approach to helping young people develop better thinking skills,
form the basis for our curriculum structure. However, there are a few more down
to earth elements that also support the development of all our students:

Work Habits:

Sandymoor
students are expected to be fully prepared to work, and have all the equipment
they need to perform their job. We do not want students to think that being
prepared for lessons is acceptable. We also expect them to have pride in what
they are creating and this shows through the presentation of their work – if we
feel that a student could make a piece of work look better and that they have
rushed it, just to get it done quickly, then they will be asked to do it again.

We
do have a policy where it is perfectly ok (in fact expected) to not know
everything – that is, after all, why they are in school! We encourage all
students to ask when they do not understand. If it is not possible to ask immediately,
they are more than welcome to seek out their teacher after the lesson and seek
support, or email them through the school’s systems. No child at Sandymoor will
be made to feel stupid because they asked a question.

Being a Community:

We
expect all our students to get on and respect the differences in others. There
are ‘fall-outs’ and sometimes students act in thoughtless and hurtful ways.
When this occurs, we have a completely zero tolerance policy and every instance
where one of our students is made to feel small, hurt or unliked is dealt with
seriously. We are also likely to deal with any student who stands by and lets
another student be hurt.

We
believe that everyone deserves respect and so when we do follow up poor
behaviour, it is always done behind ‘closed doors’. No student it told off in
front of their peers as this is a humiliating action. We have a policy,
therefore of: Praise in Public –
Reprimand in Private (PIP-RIP). You may have a conversation at home with
your son or daughter about something they saw happen in school and ask “What
did the Teacher do about it?” – the reply will be “Nothing.”, but that does not
mean that nothing has happened. Quite the opposite.

Uniform:

The
Sandymoor uniform is designed to be as simple, neat and effective as possible,
and be as affordable for all as possible. Given that, we expect all our
students to look neat and smart in their uniform; we believe that how you
present yourself says a lot about what you value and we expect our students to
value themselves. Ties should be done up properly and a reasonable length (we
do not use clip-on ties as this is demeaning). Shirts should be white fit well,
with the top button done up. Jumpers, blazers, trousers & skirts should be
in good order and clean. Skirts, particularly, should be of a modest length,
with the bottom of the skirt line around knee-length as a guide. Shoes should
be supportive, comfortable and black, with no bright markings. There are times
when, for various reasons, a student has to deviate from this and providing a
conversation has been had about the reasons why, a temporary compromise is
usually possible.

All
students carry with them a ‘Conduct Card’, showing penalty points issued for
not wearing their uniform correctly or acting in an inappropriate way during
the school day. They also carry a ‘Star Card’ for collecting points for acting
above and beyond.

We
are changing our uniform requirements in respect to the PE kit, but no parent
of existing students will have to pay to purchase our new PE uniform.

Make-up:

We
recognise that for some students, not being able to wear a small amount of
discrete make-up can cause distress. So, rather than having a total ban on
make-up, we allow girls to wear certain elements. The guidelines are explained
to them clearly and are based around helping them feel confident whilst
maintaining a professional, work-place demeanour. The same applies to nail
varnish, which, if warn, must be a single, subtle, colour and cover the whole
nail without chips or flakes.

Mobile Phones:

We
also allow students to carry around with them their mobile phones. They are not
allowed to use them or have them out in lessons (unless the teacher has asked
them to – some mobile phones have very good calculators, cameras, stop-watches,
etc… on them!) and they should be off or on mute (just as if they were working
in an office). If they are going to contact home during the day, we ask that
they let a member of staff know before-hand, just so we are aware.

Term dates / Attendance / Punctuality:

The
term dates have been distributed to homes and we ask parents to be aware of
these when planning family events. Particular note should be made of the
two-week half term in October, providing an extra opportunity for family
holidays, etc.

If
your son or daughter is too unwell to come into school, please ring or email
the school to let us know. We have a policy of ‘First Day Call’ and will ring
through our emergency contact list for you by mid-morning to see where your
child is if we have not heard from you. When they return to school, please
could you also include a signed note confirming the reason why they were off.

For
planned absences, such as medical appointments, please let us know, in writing,
before-hand. There are notes in the back of the planner to help with this.

There
has been a change in the law this academic year regarding the taking children
out of school during term time. In simple terms, this is at the discretion of
the head teacher to allow, but will only be granted in truly exceptional
circumstances. If there may be such a reason, it is important that you book an
appointment to see Mr Green-Howard to discuss it as soon as possible. Failure to do so may now result in a penalty
notice fine of £60 (£120 if not paid within 28 days) issued by the head
teacher.

We
also expect all students to be at their lessons on time, ready to begin
promptly. There are no school bells deliberately, as we want everyone to take
responsibility for their own actions.

Clubs & Societies:

These
occur after 3:45pm and finish off the school day. Students can (& have)
opted into these, and can chose to come home early on a night where there are
no clubs running that they are involved in. However, once signed up to a club,
they are expected to then participate in that club for a minimum length of
time. Registers will be taken and a student missing from a club will be treated
with as seriously as if they had missed a lesson, including a detention. Clubs
run Mondays to Thursdays.

ICT / Internet:

We
would ask that all parents sign up to
ParentMail as this is our main route for communication. If you register
your mobile phone number, then you will receive urgent school messages (such as
snow closure notices). Signing up with an email address as well and you will
also receive electronic copies of everything that is sent home with the
students. ParentMail is also our ‘online school shop’, where you will be able
to top up their lunch money (& see what they have bought for lunch),
purchase extra items of uniform, replace lost equipment and, where appropriate,
pay for music lessons and/or school trips. If you would like support with setting this
up, please contact school and arrange to meet with Mr Fry, our IT/Network
Manager, to sort this out.

Shortly,
we will also be sending out details of another website for parents – My Child At School (MCAS). MCAS is your
portal into the school ‘report’; through MCAS, you will see a summary of your
child’s attendance data as well as their behaviour record (both positive and
negative). Also, after October ½ term, you will see the progress measurements
for all their academic subjects, including end of year targets. As they are
created, PDF versions of the school report (Individual Development Plan, IDP),
will also be available via MCAS.

Alongside
this, your child has access to the school’s Learning Environment, based on the
Microsoft Office 365 suite. Through this, they have an email account, and
access to online versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint to enable them to create
school work without the expense of the home needing to buy the software. This
is a very powerful suite of tools and over time, every subject area will have
all their lesson material on this site, for access outside of school hours.

Parental Involvement:

As
we have said before, we are here for the whole family, not just the child, and
extend a warm hand to all parents. We are here if you need our support over
anything; just ask and everything will be treated in confidence.

Also,
we are always very keen for parental support! In the first instance, we would
love all parents to join our PTA and get involved that way. If you are
interested, please email them at SSCF@sandymoorschool.org.uk

Also,
please come along and support us at our two open events, Wednesday, 18th
September at 5:30pm and Saturday, 28th September at 10:30am.

Finally,
we will be sending out invites in the near future to our first formal evening
Founders Day Celebration evening. Please keep the evening of the 8th
November clear to join us in celebrating the students’ successes over the last
year. We have as a guest speaker the Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire, David Briggs.
It should be a hugely enjoyable evening.